Two Men and a Lady
by ponyperson
Summary: When Nico shows up on her doorstep late at night,bloodied and bruised, what does Dani do? Set early Season 1.


The jarring sound of her phone ringing on her bed stand woke Dani from a deep sleep. She rolled over, swearing softly, hoping to turn it off before it woke her children. It was the weekend but she didn't relish listening to them complaining in the morning. She looked at the caller ID as she pressed accept. NICO flashed across the screen, and she noticed the clock flashing 12:45am. "Nico!" she swore quietly as she answered the phone, "You better not be calling about TK or I will hypnotize you into thinking you're a little girl!"

She waited impatiently for him to answer but heard no reply. "Nico! If you are drunk dialing me I will be very upset!" Although secretly she was flattered thinking that the handsome mysterious man would be thinking about her, even if he was intoxicated. She waited, listening intently for some sound on the other end of the line. After a few more seconds of no response she hung up in disgust. She set her phone back on the bed stand and rolled over, preparing what she would say to him about this when next she saw him.

As she started to drift off to sleep she heard a soft knocking from downstairs. Now what? The knocking didn't stop and she got out of bed and went to her window. She couldn't see her door but through her window she observed a dark colored sedan. "Nico!" she swore again. ,"I'm getting tired of this! What's so important that you couldn't tell me on the phone?"

She grabbed a robe and put her phone in a pocket as she quickly went downstairs. The knocking continued, soft and irritating. So like him she thought to herself. She opened the door, fully prepared to give the man a piece of her mind. She stopped abruptly when she saw him leaning at a hazardous angle against the wall, left hand raised mid knock, grasping tightly to a bloodied cell phone, and his right hand wrapped tightly around his midsection. There was blood seeping from various wounds on his face, and his normally impeccable attire had rents and bloodsplatters.

"Took you long enough," he slurred through swollen lips.

"What the hell happened?" Dani asked him as she gently took his left arm to lead him inside. When he didn't shrug off the assistance she got more worried. The Nico she knew would never accept assistance from her. She said nothing as she helped him into her living room. She grabbed a blanket that was hanging off a chair and laid it over the couch before helping Nico sit down. She saw the pain etched in his features as he gingerly sat down. She bit her lip, saying nothing, knowing he'd be embarrassed by any acknowledgment of his pain.

She waited until his breathing evened out and his features relaxed slightly before asking again, "What happened?"

"TK" he said breathlessly.

"TK did this?" she said incredulously, not believing that the star football player would-or could- do this.

"No," he said breathlessly, "someone had it in for TK and he called me. TK got away safe, but there were 4 of them."

"And only one of you I bet. What did TK do to get them so pissed off?"

"Don't know yet, and the guys who were after him were too preoccupied with trying to break my ribs to tell me." He laid his head back against the soft couch, closing his eyes against the pain that was rippling across his midsection.

"Do I need to get you to a hospital?" Dani asked. She was a doctor, but she treated the mind, not the body.

"No," he said. "They only managed to crack one. As long as I don't move around much I'll be okay in a few days. I've had worse."

"I'm sure you have," Dani muttered under her breath, "doesn't mean I want to see it here."

"I'm sorry," he said, leaning forward and trying to get up, "You were closest and I didn't want to drive any farther. I'll go." he groaned as he started to push himself up.

Dani put a hand against a shoulder, pushing him back against the couch. She was disturbed at how little pressure it took to push the normally strong man back against the couch. "Stay," she said, "Don't be stupid. I'm going to call Matt. I'm not an MD, and I'm sure there are protocols for this sort of thing."

Matt answered the phone quickly and after she hurriedly told him what happened he only said "I'll be right over." before hanging up the phone.

"I only have Tylenol in the house," Dani said, handing Nico three of them and a glass of water. "This is the best I can do." she said by way of an apology. Nico downed the three pills without hesitation then reached for the glass of water with his left hand, his right still clutched around his middle. Dani noticed the tremor in his arm but said nothing, respecting what she knew to be his need to maintain some aura of strength.

She retrieved a bowl of warm water and a clean cloth and began to gently clean the wounds on his face. She said nothing, working gently but ignoring the occasional grimace that graced his features.

Ten minutes later she heard a car pull up in her driveway and she hurried to open the door before Matt knocked and woke up the kids. Thankfully they were still asleep. She didn't relish trying to explain what Nico was doing on her couch in this condition at this time of night.

She opened the door before he could knock and hurriedly motioned him inside. She saw that he was carrying a bag which she assumed carried medical supplies. Without saying a word to her he hurried over to the injured man. "How many ribs?" he asked him without preamble.

"Just one. Cracked I think."

"Good enough, but let me take a look to make sure. Your shirt is totaled so I'll just cut it off. But I think we can salvage the coat."

Dani stepped back in relief, glad Matt was capable of taking over. "What do you need me to do?"

Matt handed her the blood tinged water with the blood soaked cloth. "New clean water and another cloth to start while I cut his shirt off."

Dani took the bowl wordlessly, watching for a moment while Matt assisted Nico in taking off his coat. She heard a stifled groan and she bit her lip and turned away to give them some privacy. She wondered if Nico would let down his guard in front of Matt, or if he would act even tougher to keep up his tough guy persona.

She returned in a minute with the requested supplies. She saw Matt struggling to help Nico take off his coat and she knew Nico's tough guy persona was in full force. She reached in between them. "Let me get this." she said simply. She turned and gave Matt a pointed look that she hoped he would understand without explanation.

"Uh, ok." Matt said simply, stepping back and taking his bag, opening it up and setting its contents up on a table.

"Nico," Dani said simply, "you need to let us help. You came to me for a reason. Now trust me, if only for a little while."

"I do trust you," he said simply, slowly leaning forward until his head rested on her shoulder. He stopped trying to take his jacket off by himself and let his arms hang limply at his side. Without saying anything else Dani started to gently slide the coat off of his arms. She gently worked his left arm out of the sleeve, then the right, waiting several moments each time his breath hitched in his chest until he started to relax against her again. When she was done she laid the coat to the side without moving her shoulders which Nico was still leaning against. She said nothing while he squeezed his hands against her waist for a minute in mute thanks before slowly sitting up. She put her hands behind him against his back, supporting him as he leaned slowly back against the couch.

She reached for the scissors and started to cut off his shirt. She kept her features schooled in an impersonal manner against the intimacy of the moment. She couldn't help the tightening of her lips as she saw the darkening bruises against his otherwise pale skin. She cut the sleeves and slid the tattered remnants off of him then let Matt step back to finish caring for the man.

They worked wordlessly while Matt cleaned off Nico's chest before bandaging up the worst of Nico's injuries. When finished she took the again bloodied bowl of water and emptied it in the kitchen. She filled it with hot soapy water and threw the cloths into the washing machine, starting the cycle, not caring that it wasn't a full load.

When she came back into the living room she saw Matt helping Nico to his feet. "Where are you going?! You need to rest a little!"

"Matt's gonna take me home. I've imposed enough already. I can pick up the car tomorrow if that's okay."

"That's fine." Dani replied, flustered, "No. I mean, I don't care about the car. But you can stay here. You need to rest. "

Nico continued to rise cautiously to his feet. "No, you've done enough and I don't need to impose any further. Besides, I know you're worried about what your kids will say if I am here when they get up."

"You let me worry about the kids. They'll be fine. They see worse on TV." She stepped up next to him, placing her left hand on a shoulder and pushing him down. She frowned slightly when she felt Nico's inability to resist what little effort she was putting on it.

She looked at the clock on the wall. "Its 2:30 in the morning. Lay down and get some rest and Matt can take you home in the morning after breakfast. Between the two of us we can probably get your car home so you don't have to deal with it later."

She turned to Matt, "The spare bedroom is always made up so you're welcome to sleep in there."

"Well, uh, I appreciate it, though Nico should probably get the bed. I can just crash out on a chair." his thoughts wandered into forbidden territory, only just now realizing that Dani was wearing a short robe and he briefly wondered what she was wearing underneath that.

For her part Dani was trying to ignore the thoughts that were racing through her mind and the warmth that suddenly flooded her body at the thought of two very hot and single men sleeping in her house. She looked at Nico, who appeared to not have the energy to fight her and had already laid down on the couch. She noticed his eyes were already closed and she knew he was giving into exhaustion. She looked at Matt pointedly and pointed to the spare room, "Just go and let me finish up here so we can all get a few hours of sleep."

Noticing that Nico had already laid out on the couch, he didn't argue with her any longer and packed up his bag while Dani finished cleaning up. He watched while Dani gently laid another blanket over the already sleeping man. He made no comment while she slipped off his shoes, noticing that Nico didn't even stir. He frowned, realizing that Nico had to be thoroughly exhausted if he allowed anyone to touch him without stirring.

Dani made sure there were no traces of blood left in the living room or anywhere else Nico had been. The blood on his face had been cleaned off and he looked as presentable as he could in this situation if he was still here when the kids got up. She knew although he could be strict with them, the kids did like him in their own way, and they were old enough to understand that what he did would sometimes get him hurt. She left the light on in the kitchen, then went to turn off the living room light before going upstairs. She saw that the light to the guest room had already been turned off and figured that Matt had quickly made use of the bed. She stopped for a moment at the stairs, looking at the injured man on her couch, a million conflicting thoughts running through her head. Some part of her had always been attracted to the strong, stoic man, but she refused to allow herself to be any further attracted to him, knowing that right now she was feeling some maternal instinct towards him due to his injuries. She knew those feelings weren't real, no matter what her heart was feeling. With a last look she turned off the light, then made her way upstairs and back to bed.

Urgent knocking at her door woke Dani several hours later. She groaned, turning over, then cursing softly when she saw that daylight was streaming through her windows. She had meant to set an alarm to be up early and be downstairs before the kids got up, and as was evident by the knocking and the hushed voice of her daughter at the door, this hadn't occurred.

"Mom!", Lindsay said in a hushed and worried tone, "I think Nico is sleeping on our couch, and it looks like someone beat him up."

Dani hurried over to the door, motioning her daughter inside. "I'm sorry," she said, "I meant to get up before you so I could let you know what happened. Nico got into a fight last night helping out TK and he came here afterwards. I didn't have the heart to send him home after that and let him sleep on the couch. Matt's in the guest bedroom."

"Matt's here too?" Lindsay said, eyebrows raising up to her hairline.

"Girl, get your head out of the gutter. Now tell me, why are you up so early?"

"Dad's coming to get me today, remember? He's taking me shopping. I told you this last week and you said it was ok."

Dani suddenly paled, "I forgot he's coming." She turned, scrambling for her clothes, "Oh shoot, when will he be here? He'll have a fit if he sees them downstairs. This divorce has been bad enough."

She heard a honk from outside, "Shit!" she yelled. She turned towards her daughter, "I'm sorry, but please, can you just meet him outside. I really don't need this right now." She pulled a shirt over her head and hurriedly grabbed a pair of sweats from a chair, motioning her daughter out of her bedroom.

Lindsay backed out of the bedroom, quizzically watching as her mom struggled to make herself presentable in a few short minutes. She quickly and quietly ran downstairs. She was halfway down the stairs when she heard the door open and Ray Sr walked inside with a few paper bags in his hands. She tried to meet him in the kitchen before he made it into the living room and turned the lights on but she was too slow, and she watched in dismay as he suddenly paused from putting the bags on the counter and stared in shock at the man lying on the couch.

After a moment of collecting his thoughts he put the bags on the counter and turned to his daughter, "Who is that and what is he doing on my couch at this time of day."

Lindsay tried to push her father out of the living room and into the kitchen, "He's a friend of mom from work. Come on, let's go and get breakfast before we go shopping." She grabbed her father's hand and started dragging him out of the kitchen towards the front door, knowing that if Matt came out of the guest room while her father was here then all hell would really break loose.

"I brought breakfast here-I thought we could all share a nice breakfast before I took you out for the day. I guess I should have brought extra. Where is your mom by the way?" he looked around the living room, hoping to spy some of Dani's clothes strewn haphazardly around the living room. He wanted something he could use against her at court, and her and some strange man sleeping on the couch while the kids were upstairs would do it.

"She'll be down in a minute, and I know what you're doing and I'm sick of it." Lindsay yelled, raising her voice momentarily, forgetting about the sleeping guests, "They're just friends who needed help. Stop trying to make it into something its not."

"They?" Ray said, "There's another one? Where is he? upstairs? Exactly what happened here last night." He pushed past Lindsay and walked across the living room towards the staircase. He looked up the stairs, waiting expectantly for Dani to come out. "Dani!" he yelled.

Dani immediately appeared at the door, "Ray, what are you doing in here? I don't remember inviting you in." she said exasperatedly, knowing that her plans for a quiet morning to allow Nico more time to recuperate were gone.

"I allowed myself in. It's my house too you know. Imagine my surprise to find a strange man sleeping on the couch. And our daughter says there's another man in the house too. Where is he, upstairs?"

Dani opened her mouth to reply when another voice cut in, "I'm right here and I'd appreciate it if you'd lower your voice." Ray turned to see another man coming out of the guest bedroom. He noticed absently that the man was fully dressed, "My friend was in an accident last night and Dani was kind enough to help us out," he motioned to where Nico was starting to rouse himself on the sofa, "She did us a huge favor last night and that's all. She doesn't need any of this."

Ray stormed over to where Matt was standing, "I don't really care what she may or may not need," he said in a quiet but angry voice, "These are my kids too, and I don't think they need to be exposed to any danger."

"They weren't," another voice chimed in from the living room. Nico was slowly pushing himself to his feet. Matt resisted the urge to help him, knowing that it would be unwanted and met with contempt should he even attempt it. "Everything is fine. Like Matt said, I was in an accident last night and Dani offered to help. That's it. If I thought there was going to be any danger to her or your children I would never have come over here."

"So you say, but forgive me if I don't believe you," he said sarcastically.

"Well then believe me," Dani said, coming downstairs, "And be quiet before you wake the entire neighborhood. Ray Jay is still asleep."

"No he's not," came another voice from upstairs, "What's going on?"

Dani walked past her ex husband without a word and sat down on a chair in the living room, putting her head into her hands. This morning was not turning out the way she had planned.

Lindsay went over to her mom, kneeling down in front of her, "Mom? Are you ok?"

Dani looked up and put her hands on her daughter's arms. "I'm fine. Just a little over stimulated is all." She took a deep breath, looking around the living room at the three adult males in there. She turned to Nico first, who was quietly putting his shoes on and making ready to leave, "You." She pointed at him, "Sit. You're not going anywhere until you've had a good breakfast." She turned to Matt, who was coming out of the guest room. "You, go start breakfast. There's food in the refrigerator. I'm sure you can figure out how to fry up some bacon and eggs." She then turned to Ray, "This is my house now and I'd appreciate it if you didn't just come barging in here whenever you want. I would never do anything to endanger the kids and you know that. I'm helping out a friend is all. Now take Lindsay and whatever you brought and go do the shopping you promised her."

Ray opened his mouth as if to argue with her and she raised a hand to silence him, "No! I don't want to hear it. I told you what to do and I expect you to do it." She turned to her daughter, "Lindsay, do me a favor and take your father out of here please."

Lindsay looked at her mother and saw the stress on her face, a lot of which had been caused by her father's actions in the past few minutes. She turned to her dad and grabbed his hand and started to drag him across out of the house, "Come on dad, let's go. I want breakfast at Denny's and then we're going to that new store that just opened up outside the market. You promised me whatever I want today and I'm holding you to it." She looked pleadingly at her father.

Ray Sr. took a deep breath, looking at her daughter who was so torn between her mother and father. "Alright, let's go." he allowed his daughter to drag him across the room. He threw a quick look at the two strange men in the house and another longer look at his ex-wife but didn't say anything.

Dani held her breath until her ex-husband was out of the house, "Phew," she said, running a hand across her face, "That was not how I planned the morning going." She looked up at her son, "Ray Jay, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for all of this."

"It's alright mom," her son said, coming downstairs, "Just give a guy a little warning next time would ya?"

He walked across the living room to the kitchen, stopping when he got even with Nico, who was now sitting quietly on the couch, "Accident huh?"

Nico gave a half smile, looking up at Dani, not sure what to say. He nodded, and said simply, "Yeah." He was too tired and sore to say anything else.

"Uh huh," Ray Jr replied. He looked over at his mother who was still on the other side of the living room, "Later." he mouthed, giving her a pointed look.

Dani nodded tiredly, appreciating the fact that her son was grown up enough not to push the issue all the time.

Dani and Matt cooked breakfast wordlessly, scrambling up enough bacon and eggs for the four of them. Matt fixed up a small plate for Nico, knowing that the injured man wouldn't eat very much. He handed the plate to Nico, motioning for him to stay on the couch, knowing that the hard chairs at the kitchen table would only exacerbate his injuries. Nico wordlessly took the plate and began to pick at the food uninterestedly, while the other three sat at the kitchen table and began to eat in silence.

They had just finished breakfast when they heard a knock at the door. "Now what?!" Dani said exasperatedly, "I'm getting tired of people just showing up at my house whenever they want." She jumped up and ran to the door, throwing it open mid-knock, "What?!"

She threw open the door to see TK standing there, an apologetic and sheepish look on his face, "Dr. D." he said, "I, uh, I need to talk to you."

"Yes, you do." she said, opening the door wider to reveal Matt standing next to her. Immediately TK could tell from the somber expression on Matt's face that it was not a social call that had brought Matt to the doctor's residence.

Dani heard slow footsteps behind her and turned to see Nico slowly hobbling towards them. "Your driver bring you here?" he asked simply.

"Nico! You're, ummm..." he trailed off, looking Nico up and down, taking stock of the injuries and bandages that covered the man, "Hey man, umm, about that," he looked down, shuffling his feet, unsure of how to say what he needed to say.

"Save it till when I'm feeling up to hearing it." Nico interrupted, "Did your driver take you here?" he asked again, looking out over the man's shoulder towards the SUV in the driveway.

"Umm, yeah, my license is still suspended." TK replied hesitatingly.

"Good. He can take me home while you hash it out with Dr. D." He slipped past them, stiffly pulling his jacket on over his bandaged chest and limped over to TK's car without saying anything else. He opened the door without hesitation and carefully lowered himself into the backseat.

The others stared at Nico, dumbfounded by his abrupt departure. Matt started out the door as the SUV started down the street, "I'll take his car back and catch a ride back here while you two talk." He gave TK a pointed look.

The tall man nodded, feeling his insides twisting, knowing that the injuries Nico had sustained were a direct result of his actions.

Dani looked at the two men, "Why do I feel like I have no control over anything that's going on right now?" she said to no one in particular. She motioned TK inside, closing the door behind him after one last look down the road. "You know where to go. Just let me finish up in the kitchen."

She spent the next several minutes busying herself around the kitchen cleaning up. She knew Ray Jay could-and would-take care of it if she asked him to, but she needed a few minutes to settle her thoughts and ground herself before facing the maelstrom that was in her office.

When she finally entered her office, maelstrom didn't quite cover what she was facing. TK had thrown the pillows and cushions on the couch onto the floor, had knocked her box of tissues down, and just generally touched and moved everything else in her office.

She rearranged the cushions on the couch before sitting down in her chair, knowing that TK would sit when he was good and ready, "You want to tell me what's going on?"

TK paused in his pacing to look at her, "What did Nico tell you?" he asked before starting to pace again.

"Not much," Dani answered, "he showed up at my doorstep around 1230 in the morning, looking like something the cat dragged in. The only thing he told me was that you'd gotten in some kind of trouble and he helped you out. He really wasn't up to talking much last night."

TK flopped gracelessly on the couch, arms outstretched and head thrown backwards, "Sounds about right." he answered.

"Is that all you have to say?" Dani asked loudly, "The man got the crap beaten out of him. I think we all are owed a little more than that. If for no other reason then to make sure none of us need to go through this again." her thoughts raced back to the moment of fear she felt race through her when she answered the door and she saw how badly injured her friend was.

TK looked down at his hands before answering, "It was a girl."

"A girl?!" Dani asked him incredulously, "All this over a girl?"

"You gotta believe me Dr. D! I didn't think any of this would happen! If I'd known this was gonna go down like this I wouldn't' have done anything!"

"Why don't you start from the beginning and tell me what happened. And don't leave anything out. Just put it all out on the table."

TK leaned forward, resting his elbows on his thighs, "Yeah, I guess you're right. I met her in a bar a few weeks ago. I just thought she was some hot chick, and we hit it off and things just went from there."

"OK," Dani replied, "This doesn't sound so bad so far. So how did things go from hitting it off to what happened last night?"

"What I didn't know was that her brother is some big time gang banger. So last week I broke it off cuz, you know, I just wasn't into her anymore, and I was into a new girl. Problem was, she was still into me, and she saw me last night at this club with my new squeeze, and well..." TK trailed off, looking expectantly at Dani.

"And she called her gang banger brother and he came over with three of his biggest friends to teach you a lesson." Dani finished for him.

"Got it in one. Honest, I didn't know this would happen. If I did, I..." he trailed off.

"You wouldn't have done anything different. Face it TK, you are who you are."

"And I like women! What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, but maybe you need to make some better choices. Getting your friends and co workers killed over a girl is perhaps not the best choice."

TK looked down sheepishly, "I know, and honest, I didn't want Nico to get hurt."

"I know you didn't, and he knows it too."

"Thanks Dr. D. Thanks for everything." He looked up when he heard a car pull in the driveway, "I think my driver is here. I'm gonna go."

Dani knew there was a lot more that needed to be said and a lot more that needed to be dealt with, but she knew that therapy was a long process and TK made it even longer.

She watched quietly as TK left the office, pondering over the steps she needed to take to bring TK out of the rafters and the fantasy world he seemed to live in. She also needed a moment to think about the two good looking men that had spent the night in her house, and the turmoil of feelings running amok through her head.

It was three days later when Dani as called back to the Hawk's training facility. Three days where she had heard nothing, except a brief text message conversation with Matt where he had told her everything was fine and he'd give her the details later. She'd had three days to think about the two very good looking men who had spent the night in her house, and three days to think about how she felt about those men. She remembered with longing the one night she'd spent with Matt, cursing her rule about never dating co-workers. And she cursed it again when she thought about Nico; mysterious, alluring and frustrating, all at once.

So here she was, sitting in the conference room, waiting for the others to arrive, sure that there would be a recap of the events from three days earlier and what was being done to deal with it. She smiled at Matt as he sat down next to her, but didn't say anything, waiting for him to start the conversation. She was afraid to seem needy, to seem the typical female that felt a desire to nurture and control when neither nurture nor control was needed or desired.

Matt said nothing to her except a quiet "Hello," so she steeled her features. 'That's how he's gonna play it huh?', she thought to herself. She knew better than to push, knowing that that would only lead to frustration, in more ways than one. She knew neither man would be forthcoming and figured she'd have to get her information from other sources.

She kept her features carefully schooled when Nico walked in next. She could still see the remnants of discomfort, but his face was as stony as ever, and she knew the empathy he'd shared with her the other night was gone, and with as much as he kept hidden, it would be a long time before it was ever rekindled, if ever. She responded to his polite hello, but said nothing else. She respected his need for privacy.

But still she was expecting this session to be about the events of the other night, so she was barely able to control the shock when Nico right away started talking about another issue entirely. It took her a few moments to come back to herself and catch the gist of the conversation, which appeared to be centered on two teammates who were in the middle of a major disagreement which was impacting team dynamics. It had gotten so bad that they weren't allowed to be on the field at the same time, so sure were the trainers that the two of them would let loose on the other, even in the middle of a game. Dani had been called in to see if she could assist in mediating the dispute.

"They'll be available for you to start working this out after this morning's practice." Coach Purnell told her, "I can have them delivered to your place after they clean up."

"Sounds good." Dani replied, "I don't have any other patients until late this afternoon, and the kids are with my mom until tomorrow. That gives us a little privacy for whatever fireworks come up." she smiled. After TK, she was used to the tantrums that football players could throw.

"The driver's have been instructed to remain nearby, in case it turns violent." Nico advised her.

"Tell them to interrupt if it sounds like they're tearing apart my office." Dani laughed.

A brief nod from Nico and then the meeting was over as abruptly as it started. She got up to leave, "Dr. D?" he asked. She turned and looked over her shoulder at him, "A moment please?"

She nodded, saying nothing, and waited for the others to file out. No one gave either of them a second look.

After they had left she stood at her chair, a patient look on her face. She looked him in the eye as he approached her, saying nothing when he put a hand upon her shoulder. He looked away for a moment, "About the other night," he started, then paused, looking down at his feet. He was at a loss for words, unsure of how to say what he knew needed to be said, but knowing that it needed to be said.

Dani raised her hand to her shoulder, covering his larger hand in her smaller one. Nico was a man of few words, and she knew saying this would be harder and more painful for him then the physical trauma he had gone through the other night. "It's fine. Glad I was there." She gave him a brief smile, then caressed his hand with her own.

He smiled, squeezing her shoulder tightly, thankful that she understood what he hadn't been able to put into words.

Dani broke the moment first, taking control of the situation and turning away to grab her purse from the chair. With a brief look back, she turned and walked out the door. A tiny smile graced her lips as she crossed the threshold out of the conference room.

She was going to seriously have to rethink the non dating of co- workers rule.

Fin


End file.
